Sephiroth's Challenge
by AkureiGX
Summary: After Aeris's death Sephiroth gives the world one last chance for survival. If anyone can defeat him at the Battle Arena that is.
1. Training, day 25

**Title:** Sephiroth's Challenge  
**Chapter 1:** Training, day 25  
**Author:** Akurei_GX  
**Source:** Final Fantasy 7  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own FF7 or it's characters, yada yada yada...  
**Author's notes:** This is an alternate reality fic, it takes place after Aeris's death. Sephiroth proposes a challenge to all the greatest fighters in the world, the challenge is if anyone can defeat him in a tournament that the Meteor will be stopped.

It had been 25 days. 25 days since Sephiroth declared his challenge to the world. It wasn't enough for him to destroy the Planet, he had to add insult to injury by defeating the world's fighter, thus spreading even more fear in the world's last days. Cloud stood solitary on top of the mountain he had been training on. He had spent the last 26 days training alone, in spite of the others who wanted to come with him, in spite of Tifa's plea to not go off alone in the state he was in. He was still disturbed from Aeris's death. The fact that Sephiroth almost made him do it, the fact that he killed her right in front of him and he couldn't do anything about it. It fueled him to keep going, he spent each day and night training hard, perfecting his attacks, and fighting whatever unlucky shmuck of a monster crossed his path.

For the past 25 days Tifa had been in Nibelheim training with Tao, a martial arts master who was a friend of her teacher. The young kickboxer went stride for stride with the master blocking each of his attacks. The past few days had been intense, she had pushed herself much father then she ever thought possible. Her endurance and stamina was getting greater with each day. As she went for a powerful attack against her sparing partner her surprisingly attacked with one of his own knocking her down in one hit. "You are not focused, you should have seen that coming" the old man said. He was right, she thought. She was too worried about Cloud. It was clear that Sephiroth had some kind of control over him and he should be alone at a time like this. She stood up and dusted herself off "Sorry, I guess I am a little distracted today." The elderly oriental man sat down for a moment and motioned Tifa to do the same. "I think we are done for today. If you don't focus and put your whole heart, mind and body into a fight then you can't expect to win." She knew this already, she felt so uneasy about this tournament The entire world was literally at stake.

Gunfire could be heard ringing throughout the Sector 4 slums of Midgar. Barret had chosen this abandoned section of the city to train himself. He first went to Midgar to check on Marlene and to give Aeris's foster mother the sad news. It was difficult but had once again had to leave his daughter in her care while he prepared for the tournament Since firearms would not be allowed he adapted his gundarm to use a ball and chain attachment with an emergency blade concealed in it. Finding the parts was rather easy in Wall Market. Once ready he wandered the sectors fighting off everything in his way until reaching Sector 4 where a powerful monster was rumored to be. As far as he was concerned it would be a good warm up.

Shouting could be heard all though Junon as a mob of soldiers and shop keepers chased Yuffie down the streets. "Materia! Materia! Materia!" She chanted to herself, grinning then whole time. Nothing gave her a bigger rush then taking so much Materia right out from under a whole city. They very thought of having done it made her so giddy she could hardly keep running. "With this much Materia I just can't lose" she said as she rushed down the main street all genki like.

Cid was just lounging around in Rocket town with Cait Sith, both didn't really take this tournament seriously. "Shouldn't you be training or something?" Shera asked. "Pheh, just get me some more @#$%& tea . . and be quick about it!" Cid sharply replied. "Well I'm sure not going to enter it, no money to be made in death" Cait Sith said. Cid scoffed "No point in it at all, either way we aren't going to be the ones that beat that SOLDIER, and if no one can then we are all dead anyway so we might as well enjoy the time we got left." Cait almost couldn't contain his laughter "So in other words. . . . your too scared so you'll just hide here." Cid jumped up to strangle him, but Cait dodged and ran like hell out of the room. "Come back here you little stuffed piece of. . ." Cid was cut off as he and Cait ran right into Shera spilling the tea all over them. "@#$%&" was all Cid could say.

Sephiroth stood above the Gold Saucer staring out into space. Soon the great tournament would begin, and he would see just what this world had to offer. In SOLDIER he had no equal but now he would know just if he was the most powerful warrior in the world. The prize of saving the world would definitely make them fight even harder. And he just knew that _they_ would show up, and that made things even more interesting.

. . . . to be continued

~Akurei_GX


	2. Training, day 27

**Title:** Sephiroth's Challenge  
**Chapter 2:** Training, day 27  
**Author:** Akurei_GX  
**Source:** Final Fantasy 7  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own FF7 or it's characters, yada yada yada...  
**Author's notes:** This is an alternate reality fic, it takes place after Aeris's death. Sephiroth proposes a challenge to all the greatest fighters in the world, the challenge is if anyone can defeat him in a tournament that the Meteor will be stopped.

Deep in the caves of Cosmo Canyon two powerful beasts could be heard fighting, their grunts and roars echoed throughout the caverns. From the darkness Red XIII leaped out at his target and wrestled it to the ground. The two struggled and the other threw him into a cave wall. The second beast stood up in plain sight now, revealing it to be Vincent in his Galian Beast form. The two had been at this for a month now. Both had gained great strength and new abilities through their battles but were unsure if it would be enough to win.

Barret suddenly stopped walking as he heard something large coming his way. He could feel the ground shake beneath him as whatever it was got closer and closer. The sound of heavy breathing and footsteps soon followed. This was it, he thought. He turned to face the direction it was coming from and saw a shadow coming from the corner of a large junk pile. Without warning a huge flame shot at him from the other side of the pile and he barely dodged it. The large beast smashed through everything in it's way and heading right for him. The look in it's eyes gave it away, it was some kind of mutation caused by Mako radiation, probably another one of Shinra's. . . no, one of Hojo's twisted experiments. The monster stood on four legs and had large horns and fangs. It's breath was fiery and sparks could be seen around it's horns. It suddenly shot out a fireball and lightning at Barret, who countered with his Grenade Bomb attack. The two were equal in power and canceled each other out. "No way this _thing_ is as strong as me." Barret ran at it head on before it could attack, the two met and got into a grapple with the creatures front paws wrapped in a tight hold of Barret's shoulders. Barret's own arms held the creature back as he broke it's hold on one of his arms. He brought the arm back and used the ball and chain attachment to slug the beast in the face. The strike didn't even slow it down, it continued pushing on Barret while it got ready to breathe another fireball right on him. Barret quickly dropped the ball and chain with a button and a blade popped out. He stabbed the monster in the throat and it cried out so loud it could be heard above the plate in the city above. It used one of it's paws to swat Barret into a nearby junk pile. 

"Didn't know who you were messin' with did ya, punk. Even if you are some mako freak, I don't need any Materia to beat you or anyone else." Barret was determined to fight people his way, the _real_ way, with weapons and strength and not magic. He ran right back up to the monster and started punching it with his good arm over and over again while slashing at it with his blade. The fight could be heard all over the sector, but a few moments later there was only silence. The monster lay lifeless with Barret standing over it, cut up and bleeding. He was completely focused now, he would prove he was the world's strongest fighter, even stronger then that big shot SOLDIER Cloud.

While trying to clear her head Tifa went for a walk in the Nibelheim mountains. She walked along the paths and bridges that reminded her of her childhood. She was always told to never go to the mountains but she did anyway. She had just stepped off a bridge when she felt a massive power coming from the mountains, it was followed by a loud explosions and the sight of a mountain being split in half. She rushed over to see what had happened, probably not a smart thing to do since the WEAPONs were on a rampage and that was probably one of them. However she wasn't too worried because the power she felt seemed familiar. She couldn't have been more shocked at what she saw, Cloud standing in front on the split mountain, Could Cloud have done this? she thought. No, there is no way. . . how could he be this strong? Cloud wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked over at Tifa. "I thought I told you I was training **alone**." Tifa shot him a funny look, "Hey I was training alone too, but then I noticed _this_, what happened?" Cloud put down his sword to sit and rest for a moment. All he could think of was Sephiroth trying to use him as a puppet again. Who would he hurt if that happened again? "Hey snap out of it!" Tifa yelled. "Your not zoning out on me again are you?" Cloud looked up at her and almost smiled. "No, I'm fine, I was just thinking." Tifa walked up and sat beside him. "About what" she asked. "Sephiroth. . . why is he doing this. He has already won. He summoned meteor and killed Aeris who was the only one who could stop him. So why this tournament?" Tifa replied. "I don't know, but we still have to do all we can to stop him right?" Cloud just kept looking worried and angry. "He must have some reason for all this, the Meteor is just 5 days away, and the tournament is 4. It just doesn't make sense."

After ditching the angry mob Yuffie met with a shady looking merchant who had told her about a new weapon for sale. As soon as she saw it she could tell it was stolen, it was far too advanced. It was large ring-like weapon with jagged edges, made of a metal she couldn't identify. What really got her attention were the 7 Materia slots, combined with the 5 in her armor she would be able to use the great stash of Materia she had. She quickly paid for it with every cent she had and quite a few cents that some generous people gave her. . . without their knowledge of course.

. . . . . . . to be continued

~Akurei_GX

What is Sephiroth up to? Will everyone become strong enough to fight him? Who else shall enter this tournament? Check out the next chapter to find out lol ^_~ 


	3. Training over, now the fight begins

FF7: Sephiroth's challenge

**Title:** Sephiroth's Challenge  
**Chapter 3:** Training over, now the fight begins  
**Author:** Akurei_GX  
**Source:** Final Fantasy 7  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own FF7 or it's characters, yada yada yada...  
**Author's notes:** This is an alternate reality fic, it takes place after Aeris's death. Sephiroth proposes a challenge to all the greatest fighters in the world, the challenge is if anyone can defeat him in a tournament that the Meteor will be stopped.

This was the day all the warriors were waiting for, the day that would determined the planet's survival. The was a huge crowd at the battle arena along with a live television crew. It would appear that everyone needed to see what was going on even though watching would have no effect on the outcome. Barret scoffed at the cameras, "People should enjoy the time they got left rather then waste it in a place like this" he thought. The first round was to be fought by all competitors, they would fight each other one on one and the winners would get a shot at Sephiroth. The warriors stood silently as the fist round matches were announced......

Fight 1, Barret vs. Yuffie

"Whaaaaaa....." was all the 16 year old ninja could blurt out as she realized she has to fight Mr.Blow everything up.Barret stepped into the ring with a somewhat impish grin. He was thrilled at the chance to show everyone how materia wasn't needed in battle and what better opponent then little miss materia hunter. His weapon of choice for this battle was the Micro laser set to stun (since not even Yuffie deserved to be fried, though he was tempted). Yuffie broke from her shock and started the battle off with Bolt 3 which Barret absorbed into his weapon using it as a charge and retorting with a blast at the young ninja. She barely dodged it and cursed herself for the mistake of her spell choice. 

She decided that perhaps defense would be more important now and she used her W-Magic materia to cast both Haste and Sheild. Barret took aim and continued firing but Yuffie's speed was now too much, the combo of Haste and her mastered Speed+ materia made her move faster then his arm laser. Still protected by the sheild she charged right for him and slashed at the laser with her weapon managing only to scratch it. She then jump kicked him in the head and came around for another slash when he somehow managed to grab her foot. "What now speed?" Barret mocked. She closed her eyes and began a low chant as one of the red materias on her weapon began to glow. Barret blinked and then yelled out as he felt something incredibly cold hit his back. He drooped Yuffie and turned to see who was jumping in only to see Shiva. "Damn summon mateira, the worst of them all..." 

After Shiva vanished Barret turned to face his true opponent but got caught off guard and fell to a sweep by Yuffie. He got up before she attacked again and the two faced off in close range combat exchanging martial arts attacks. The two kept at it for almost ten minutes until the Haste wore off and Barret was able to knock her weapon away. At point black range he gave her a full blast of his laser which overloaded it since it was damaged. Yuffie went flaying back and almost fell out of the ring which would have cost her the match. Having Sheild cast kept her from getting too hurt, she got right back up with a new plan. Barret detached the now useless Micro laser and waited for Yuffie to make her next move. Once again Yuffie closed her eyes and got ready for a summon, knowing this, Barret charged her to stop her. But as he got to her the large form of Leviathan came up from behind her. Barret looked up in awe of the giant water serpent. A huge wave formed and swept Barret out of the ring causing Yuffie to win. There was a mix of cheers and boos from though who had placed bets on the fight. People began to settle as the next fight was to be announced.

"Next battle, Vincent vs. Tifa"

. . . . . to be continued


End file.
